Watching
by naggeluide
Summary: "I'll be watching you," America said to Loki. She doesn't always like what she sees...because sometimes it might remind her of herself.


"I'll be watching you," is what she said when they first met.

None too original - it's what they all said. What else would you say after a discussion with Loki Liesmith, Loki the Trickster, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Trusted? You must say how you are different, you are a hero (or at least an honest villain), you are intrigued by Loki's offer, but you are not a part of his game and even if you agree to go along with whatever "quick jaunt with rich rewards" he dangles before you, you will not be taken in and you will take his head off if he so much as hints at treachery.

With America Chavez he expected it to be no different. After all, he was lying to her and manipulating her, as he did with everyone else.

She was watching him, and watching Billy as she'd promised, and was inconveniently true to her word. Typical hero.

But then she was also watching him when she hopped a dimension and a couple thousand miles to turn the parasite-resurrected Laufey into so much blue goo. Showed up in the nick of time, and what did that make her? Big Damn Hero, that's what.

So it was odd that she was also watching him when her moms and Teddy's and Billy's parents showed up at the club. That's what he deduces from the fact the he wakes up under the table of their booth with a boot print in his back, at least. He might've been ignored anyway because he makes a small target, but he is strangely appreciative that someone took the time to make sure he was out of the way while unconscious from trying to teleport them away. He's more used to the every-man-for-the-good-guys mentality with, if he's extremely lucky, an afterthought for that lying little shit that they happen to need.

She must have a younger sibling or at least a cat that got on her nerves growing up, he concludes mid-escape from planet Earth, because the way she manhandled him into Noh-Varr's ship reminds him of the way Thor used to toss him about when he got tired of telling him to keep up. Maybe that's something he can use to play her with in the future, he thinks, and who would have thought that Miss America, interdimensional badass extraordinaire, might have a soft spot for kids?

Most likely it's just that she likes him best when he's unconscious. She would hardly be the first. There are telling finger-shaped bruises around his ankle when he wakes up from his little adventure with Billy's power, and the only one strong enough to leave those was America Chavez. And Hulkling, he supposes, but the prints are too small to be from his hands. Still, he credits this one to teamwork and perhaps even a tiny bit of gratitude for saving their collective ass from super-parent parasites.

Loki knew that one day his adorable childish antics were bound to make somebody smile.

Well, maybe smile was a bit of an exaggeration, but when she says again, "I'm watching you, chico," it's less of a threat, and quite possibly smacks of a promise.

He glad that she decided not to leave, even if she might be onto him. After all, Loki was planning on putting on a five-star show, and didn't want to waste it on an unappreciative audience. The smarter they are, the more satisfying the con.

Loki is puzzled, then, when she doesn't immediately put the pieces together during their team-bonding road trip through the multiverse. It vexes him even more when it appears she had prior knowledge about the meaning of the demiurge - but perhaps the strain of kicking holes in space and time was beginning to affect her. He counts himself lucky and starts to flirt more obviously at Billy, hoping she will put together "Loki is Loki and has a plan", "Wiccan will determine the shape of magic past and future" and "Loki teaching Wiccan to control his power" as "Magic boy has crush on other magic boy" or even "Loki trying to gain influence over Wiccan" instead of "Loki trying to steal said power over magic's destiny".

Or maybe she was just waiting for the right moment, Loki muses when he finds himself slammed up against a wall with spine-adjusting force, hands flying instinctively up to protect his face. "What now, Chavez?" he whines, peeking through his fingers at a set of fierce brown eyes.

"Now you get honest, chico," she snarls, fist hovering in warning. "What's your game with Billy? He's a good kid and I'd hate to see him murdered by, say, power-hungry thieving gods of mischief."

"Maybe I'm just doing what I wanted to ask you to do in the first place!" Loki shouted. "Protecting him! From a secretive superwoman who made a mistake and is stealing a line from the Norse Gods playbook and wants to make Loki fix it!"

He fully expects her to punch him in the face if his guess is right, and America does not disappoint. When he awakes they are in another dimension, which he supposes grants more privacy than the cargo hold of Noh-Varr's ship. The time he spent unconscious does not seem to have been sufficient for America to cool off; he can feel the anger rolling off her in waves.

"What do you know?" she demands.

Loki holds up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Not much," he says, truthfully, "You need Billy, that's obvious. You know he's the demiurge, don't ask me how. You can't do magic yourself, and that's where I come in. I'm gonna say that you broke something in one of your dimensions and you need a sorcerer supreme to bail you out. Which I am totally willing to do, and I am even willing to overlook the number of times you've punched me out, given you get a little more chatty concerning what it is you actually want us to do."

"Talking's not really my strong point," she replied. "But it is yours, and since you've so obligingly started, I suggest you continue, unless you want to get re-acquainted with my fist."

"That's all I know! Honest!" Loki protested.

"Billy. What have you got planned for him?"

"Can't I help out a fellow mage? Maybe I just want to see him prosper and grow to realize his full potential, like someone did for me centuries ago in another life." He put all the emotion he could into his delivery, but he could tell she wasn't buying it. It was a long shot, anyway. "Besides, I ship him and Teddy so hard. They're like, totes adorbs."

"Uh-huh. I believe all of that because I've counted at least three times today you've blatantly hit on Billy, sometimes even in front of his boyfriend. Which is not only really disturbing coming from someone with the body a ten-year-old, but also makes me want to castrate you before you get a chance to do anything about your flirtations."

"Hey, come on America, even you've got to admit he's cute!"

"Not my type, chico. Taken, for one."

"Right, how could I forget you prefer bleach blondes with popped collars and a grill."

"Back on track! Evil plans. You were about to spill," she reminded him, slowly making a fist for good measure.

The truth is always the best lie, a small voice reminded him, and he muttered: "Fine." Loki took a deep breath to ostensibly steady himself, and threw a little uncertainty into his posture. Might as well play it up. "The past and future of magic. I don't know how much you know about me in this dimension but... past-me was... well, he did some pretty awful things and I still get blamed for them. I want to change. I have to change, because gods of chaos aren't supposed to get predictable. So I need to get rid of him. Old Loki. I want to be free, America."

It wasn't even a struggle to look up at Miss America through large, watery eyes.

He thinks that, if they were friends, he would feel guilty for noting how that seemed to resonate with her, and filing it away in the 'de-mystifying mystery superhero' folder for later examination. Her hesitation tells him more than she ever has about what she might be running from.

"You want Billy's magic so you can kill your old self?" she asks, suspicious.

"Not exactly," Loki says. "Kill isn't quite the word I would use. But imagine if magic were made such that he never had any power - or at least, not as much - and he was just an average mage, well then..."

"Hmmm." Her eyes are still narrowed. "Say I believe you. Why don't you just ask Billy to do it for you? I'm sure he wouldn't mind ridding the universe of a plague like you. Old you. I, for the record, can't really tell the difference between what I've heard of the two of you."

"Oh, ouch!" Loki pulled a hurt face, before speaking seriously once more. "What if I couldn't ask him because there's also a small chance that he could lose his powers, too?"

She studies his face for a long time, He doesn't know what he sees there - most people either want to see a truth so desperately that they do, or see the lie because they can't hope for anything better.

In the end, she makes a different call. Miss America raises her leg and kicks a hole in the universe, gesturing for Loki to jump back through to their proper dimension. "You get one chance, chico. You'd better do the right thing. I'll be watching you."

"Good," Loki muttered to himself as he stepped through the portal. "After all, I'd hate for you to miss the show."

**A/N**: Don't mind me, just cross-posting stuff from a long time ago over her.


End file.
